The DNA of Death
by MoryP
Summary: A colonist beams aboard the Enterprise and suddenly shows bizarre and severe symptoms. What is the cause of his undying pain?


A mother, her son, and her daughter leave the family hover-vehicle and head towards their home. The kids are coming home from elementary school. The young girl is playing on her iPhone 385

The young boy said to his sister. "Tara you're always on that iPhone. Put it down, How about we play an old ancient earth game."

"Is it better than Angry Holobirds?" She asked.

"Much better. Its called, tag. And you're it!"

The young boy started running quickly from his sister. After being away for a few feet, he looked back to see his sister walking slowly towards him. She was back on her iPhone 385, facing down at the glowing screen.  
"Tara...". The boy, hanged his head down, realizing her sister wouldn't be playing, and walked towards her. As he made his way to her, he heard a loud shriek. As he looked up, a man had lifted Tara in his arms.  
"Help!" she shouted  
"Hey!" The boy shouted. He began quickly running to her rescue. "Mom!" He shouted. On his way to his sister, he picked up a large rock and threw it at the leg of the man. His attack was able to momentarily trip him and blood from the attack spilled from the rock. But by the time his mom arrived, the kidnapper beamed away with his sister.

"No!" The mom cried out, in tears! "Somebody help! Tara!"  
"She began to weep bitterly. The young boy stared down in disbelief as a few others began to emerge out of their homes due to the commotion. As he looked around in a daze, he saw the iPhone that was dropped by his sister and he picked it up. He also saw the rock with the kidnappers blood marks, and picked that up as well.

(30 years later, Enterprise, 0700 hours)

Captians Log Stardate 3.1416273. The Enteprise is enjoying a nice slice of Federation Pie, As we orbit around Jupiter. There is a major Hydrogen storm coming on the planet and we are transferring some of the lunar colonists back home to Earth.

Aboard the Enteprise, a couple of passengers beam aboard. Ensign Wesley Crusher is at the transporter controls.

"Welcome aboard the Enteprise", Wesley greets them.

As the passengers begin to leave, one of the passengers began clutching his stomach in pain. "Are you alright?" "Yes, (cough cough) I'm fine". After awhile, he began to tighten his grip. "Are you sure?" "(cough cough) I, ... ooohhhh...".

"Wesley to Doctor Crusher, Mom I have a medical emergency in transporter room 2."

A security team eventually came an escorted the man to sickbay. He frequently moaned and squirmed in pain

The Doctor tried to console her patient, "Try to relax"

"Ohhh don't tell me to relax", exclaimed the patient while clenching  
"Oookay" Replied the Doctor, trying to keep herself calm.  
While scanning and checking her tricorder, she muttered , "Now this is highly unusual"  
"Tell me I'm dying, I deserve to die", the patient cried out  
"Your molecular structure is in a constant state of flux. I have never seen anything like this before", she explained  
"Sounds like a lot of mumbo jumbo for, I'm dying. Great."  
"Quiet. I'm going to try and sedate you to see if that helps"

(Senior Conference room, 1200 hours)

The senior crew was assembled for a staff meeting. Picard opened up the meeting.  
"Ok everyone, were officially, officially, officially, having our official meeting"  
Data properly asked, "Captain, it is customary that the participants of any organized meeting take as much time as possible to delay any meaningful productivity. However, my spot, cat, is in dire need of attention.  
"Your spot, cat? Data, don't you mean your cat, spot?", Riker asked.  
"Data made a mistake?" Deanna inquired.  
"On the contrary Counseler. I have aquired a new spot on my uniform since this morning as the result an incident"  
"Well what was this 'incident' Commander?" Deanna asked, showing interest  
"Well", Data started, "See what had happened was-"  
"What had happened was?" Geordi interrupted, as the crew was amused by Data's choice of words  
"Affirmative. What happened was my cat spot sat in my cot and cut my cap, scat in my cup,made him stop like a cop but now I'm stuck with a spot named cat and to top it all off..."  
"Your point Mr. Data", Picard interrupted, hiding his grin.  
"No point sir. Just trying to expend productivity time sir."  
Picard, now showing his grin, "Well Done!"  
The Doctor, stopping the atmosphere from becoming too playful,"I actually do have something important to report"  
Picard, lowering his grin, "Yes doctor what is it?"  
"Our patient from the lunar colony today had a very unusual condition. Actually I've never seen it documented before. His molecular composition is consistently changing throughout his body, causing random areas of pain, at different intervals. One moment, his leg is broken. Then its healed. Another moment. His stomach is turning, and then it feels fine again."  
"That does sound severe. Any idea for the cause?" asked Picard.  
"Not at all. All of the other patients are reporting to feel fine. I tried doing a background check on him, but nothing came up."  
Riker asked, "When did he start showing these symptoms"  
"Just right after he beamed aboard."  
Geordi interjected, "Maybe the transporter has something to do with it. If his molecular sturcture is changing, maybe his transport over here was faulty"  
"Maybe." Picard speculated. "It was young ensign crusher at the controls, and I don't believe he is officially qualified to do any transporting. "  
The Doctor, realizing it could be her own son responsible for the patient's condition, replied, "Oh Wesley. Captain I'm sorry"  
"Its quite alright doctor. But just to be sure lets have Ensign Crusher relieved of duty until we confirm the source of this ailment. Geordi, I want you to get Dr. Crusher the latest transporter specs, and doctor, look over those specs to see if there's anything that would trigger this condition."  
"I'll have Obrien send them right over."  
"And have Obrien shut down the transporters just in case it indeed is the cause of this ailment"  
"Aye sir"  
After a few moments of silence, the Worf chimed in, "Request permission to resume aimless banter sir"  
Picard scanned the room, looking at everyone's face which showed a hidden eagerness to talk aimlessly, replied,  
"Mr. Worf you read my mind."

(Sickbay, 1400 hours)

The Doctor continued to study the symptoms of her tormented patient. Throughout her examination, the patient managed to grin and look over the doctor.

"Whats a beautiful woman like you working in a sick shop like this. Ooohhhhhh"  
"Helping old sick men like you. Now hold still". The doctor applied a hypospray to the patient.

"(Cough) You married, got any kids? (Cough, cough)" The patient managed to sputter.

Doctor just held a pleasant demeanor as she tried to ignore him. Moments later, Chief OBrien arrived.

"Ah Chief O Brien, you're just in time. I suppose you have some transporter specs for me?"  
"Yeah Geordi told me you needed the-"

Chief Obrien glanced and then stared at the patient. After some time the patient muttered,"What are you lookin at"  
The Doctor tried to get Obrien's attention back, "Obrien?"  
"Oh I'm sorry. Here are your transporter specs Doctor".

Obrien handed her the tablet with the transporter specs

"Thanks. Some patient huh?"  
"Yeah. Some patient.." Obrien replied.  
"These logs show information about this last transport right?"  
"Actually they don't but I can get you that information right away."

"Thanks, Chief." The Doctor said as Obrien started to leave.

Obrien passed by the patient again, and looked back at him

"Who are you!" The patient shouted in pain at Obrien.

Obrien paused for a moment and then returned to the Doctor "Oh, I just remembered." He said to the Doctor. "I actually did try to get the log, but it was removed from the system."  
"Removed?" The Doctor asked, "That's strange. Why would they be removed."  
"I don't know. Maybe someone removed them"  
"Who would remove..." The Doctor thought for a moment as she tried to piece together the scenario. "Wesley!", she muttered, concluding that he was responsible for the log removal. "Chief, could you ask if Wesley knows anything about this missing log? He should be in his quarters."

"I'll go talk to him now"  
"Thanks Chief."

As Obrien started to leave, the patient cried out again.  
"You got a problem with me? OOOOUUUUUHHHHhhhhhh."  
The Doctor went to calm her patient, "Ok calm back down" she told him as Obrien left sickbay.

(Ten Forward, 1700)

Geordi and Obrien were eating lunch, taking a break from work."

So any plans this weekend Chief?" Geordi asked.

"Well, I'm taking Keiko out tonight to the new Holodeck program", Obrien replied, staring out the window, seeming distracted.

"Oh the River of Love. Heard it was very engaging."  
"Yeah". Obrien continued to stare off. After a few moments of silence, Doctor Crusher walked by the table.  
"Doctor how's it going?" Geordi asked, spotting the Doctor.  
"Hi Commander, Chief. I am making next to no progress with our tormented patient. His random molecular degeneration is getting worse. All of the other colonist have reported to be doing just fine. And he's told me that he has no prior experience with these symptoms. He said it just started happening as soon as he beamed over."  
"What did the transporter logs show", Geordio asked.  
"Well the logs were empty.", replied the Doctor.  
"Well the backup files have got to be there somewhere. I'll go to transporter room 2 to check it out." Geordi got up from the table to head to the transporter room.  
"I'll come with you. My patient my be rough around the edges, but he deserves at least some explanation for his condition."  
"obrien you coming?", Gerodi asked Obrien.  
"You guys go on ahead. I've got to get ready for my meeting with Keiko."  
The two of them walked off to go to Transporter Room 2.

Geordi and the Doctor walked into Transporter Room 2. They took a few minutes to scan the transporter pad for any abnormalities  
"Got anything?" Geordi asked the Doctor.  
"Nope. Everything checked out fine."  
"Right. Time to check with the computer."

Geordi began to question the computer.  
"Compu-". Just then Obrien walked through the door, interrupting Geordi. "Obrien? Hey, I thought you were meeting with your wife."  
"Yeah. But that's not until at least another hour. Besides, who better to investigate the transporter than yours truly."  
"That's true, but don't blame us if your wife kills you for being late.", the Doctor said.  
"Haha, you have no idea." Obrien jested.  
Geordi continued, "We were just about to see if the computer knew anything."  
"Great." Obrien said. "I'll be on that control panel doing a manual information search." Obrien said as he went to a different control panel  
Geordi continued, "Computer, give me a list of all the transports conducted within the last 24 hours"  
"There is no record of any transports conducted within the last 24 hours" , the computer responded.

"That can't be right", Geordi continued. "Computer give me the record of any log removals done within that same time frame"  
The computer answered, "A transport log was removed at 1600 hours."  
"Removed? By whom?" Geordi asked.  
"User Unknown" the computer responded.

"User Unknown? Seems like someone is trying to hide their tracks."  
The Doctor interrupted, "Wait a minute. Chief Obrien, you told me the log had been removed when we were in sickbay, but that was long before 1600."  
Chief Obrien pensively responded, "Hmm. You're right. Maybe whoever removed the file changed the time it was removed"  
"Maybe. Or maybe Obrien can see hours into the future", Geordi joked  
"Boy do I wish I could", Obrien replied.

The Doctor continued. "Well if the the time is right, it couldn't have been Wesley. He was in his quarters during that time"  
Geordi chuckled at the emergence of this mystery, "Guess its time to interrogate the computer again" Geordi continued. "Computer, besides the log removal, do you have any report of any uncommon activity occurring within the last 24 hours?"  
The computer responded, "Affirmative. A program was automatically started for the first time today at 0700 hours."  
"Thats the time when my patient beamed aboard", the Doctor revealed.  
"You're right." Geordi continued,"Computer can you tell me the name along with details about the program, including its purpose."  
"The information and contents of this program have been removed."

"Removed? What happened to it? When was it removed?" Geordi asked out of surprise and frustration.  
"This program was removed 3.2 seconds ago.", the computer reported  
"3.2 seconds? How? By whom?" Geordi shouted out  
"The method is unknown, and the user is unknown.", the computer replied.  
Geordi sighed and walked over to Chief O Brien, who was busy away on his control panel  
"Chief, any progress on your manual searches?"  
"Nothing so far. Although I am getting a mini refresher course on manual searching. You?"  
"Nothing. It's almost as if someone is watching every move we make and stopping us from finishing."  
The Doctor, who was watching them from a few feet, interrupted them.  
"Gentlemen, if you don't mind, I've got to step out for a moment."  
"Sure Doctor"

The Doctor stepped outside. Once the door shut behind her, she tapped on her communicator.  
"Doctor Crusher to Wesley"  
"Yeah mom"  
"When Chief Obrien talked to about the transport today, what did you all talk about"  
"Chief Obrien? I haven't seen him since last week."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah Mom. Something wrong?"  
"I need you to report to transporter room 2 immediately."  
"Ok."

She ended the conversation with her son, and then tapped her communicator again.  
"Doctor Crusher to Captian Picard"  
"Yes Doctor."  
"Jean-Luc, there's a situation here in transporter room 2 that I think you and security should look into."  
"On my way"

After some time, the Doctor reentered the transporter room.

"Looks like were not getting much help here Doctor, sorry." Geordi reported,"It's almost like files are being removed as we search for them."  
"That's strange." The Doctor replied, "So Chief, what exactly did you discuss with Wesley concerning the transporter."  
"I.. Well, I just asked him if he new if there was anything suspicious about the transport log."  
"Oh." the Doctor replied, "What did he say?"  
"I'm sorry?" Obrien replied, seeming to be caught off guard.  
"What did Wesley say about the transport log?"  
"Oh. He said he didn't know."  
"Oh. And when did you all have this conversation?"  
"Hmm? Oh it was right after I left from -"

Wesley crusher then walked into the transporter room, interrupting the conversation.  
"Hi mom. Hi Chief. Whats going on?"  
"Wesley. Chief Obrien was just telling us about your meeting earlier today concerning the transporter."  
"A meeting? Chief, we didn't have a meeting"

Obrien, seeming unusually pressured, replied, "I'm sorry Doctor, I've really got to get get going. Sorry I couldn't find anything, but I've got a meeting with Keiko and-"  
"Just like your meeting with Wesley?", the Doctor replied in mockery, interrupting Obrien.

Obrien gave a few seconds of silence, not making any eye contact with anyone. The Doctor continued, "You know, its funny how you're one of the few people on board the Enterprise who has the ability to delete transport logs."  
"Chief, have you been deleting these logs?" Geordi asked.  
"Me? Geordi, Nonsense. Why would I do that?"  
"I don't know but it is pretty strange that the original logs were removed after Doctor Crusher asked you about them, Chief." Geordi explained.  
"And if you ask me, you probably deleted that program that went suddenly missing about a minute ago. Deleting the files, as we were searching for them, right from that control panel" The Doctor exclaimed.  
"What? I can't believe you two are accusing me of-"

Obrien was interrupted again, this time by his wife Keiko, as she walked in.  
"Miles? Honey? There you are. I thought I'd find you here. Hi Doctor, Commander, I've come to steal my husband."

Obrien didn't move to greet his wife, and the room remained silent. After noticing the tension, Keiko asked

"Honey, whats wrong?"

"Nothing, honey. I'll expla-"

Obrien was cut off yet again, but this time by the sight of his daughter, Molly . She walked from behind Keiko into his view as she stared down into her iPhone 400. Quickly, to the surprise of everyone, Obrien ran and kneeled to her daughter.

"Oh Keka, put down that iPhone. You're on it all the time. Just like Tara. Just like Tara..."

Captian Picard, Data and a security team walked in to the room. They remained silent to observe what was going on.

Obrien began to cry quietly. The crowed in the room now grew silent as he took a momentary pause, and then continued."I'll never forget that face, that tatoo... the smell, the voice. It was and still is the worst day of my life. And revenge won't make it better"  
"Miles", his wife whispered and went to console him.

Obrien continued, teary eyed, "I was 10 years old when my sister Tara was Kidnapped. She was only 5. I was able to attack him and get some of his blood. I perserved it, and once I got into engineering school, I wrote a DNA matching algorithm that would slowly decay the body of this sequence of DNA. I inserted the program into every transporter I've been assigned to throughout my career. And now nearly 30 years later, I finally got him."  
"I promised I would torture him into endless undying pain. I was just increasing his molecular degeneration rate and hiding any evidence right from this panel."  
"We are all deeply sorry for what you and your family had to go through ". Picard started, "And stand assured, this wicked man will pay for his heinous crime committed years ago. But you are right, revenge won't bring her back. You must resist the urge to take justice in your own hands. I think this would be a good time to meet with Counselor Troi , and in light of these circumstances, I will overlook any trespasses committed on your behalf and wont document this in your record."  
"Thank you sir"  
There was a brief pause as others began to console the Chief. Data broke the mood, "Look on the bright side Chief, you made it this far without your sister. You can basically think of Molly as her replacement."  
"What?!" Obrien shouted  
"Data!" Deanna cried out, fearing the worst.  
Riker went to restrain Obrien but it was too late. He punched Data with fury in the face

After Obrien calmed down, Picard patted Obrien on the shoulder, "I'll over look that too."  
"Come on Data, lets get you purged" Geordi said, escorting Data out.  
"See what had haaaappeennned waaaaaaaaaa-aaa-aa-aaaaa..." Data sputtered out in an erroneous voice.


End file.
